


And Then We Were Fine

by bergann



Category: Numb3rs, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-31
Updated: 2010-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-06 21:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bergann/pseuds/bergann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay show up unexpected, and it all goes somewhat downhill after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then We Were Fine

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Discovery Channel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/58068) by [bergann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bergann/pseuds/bergann). 



> This is one of the very first fics I wrote for this pairing.

It takes two days before they really patch things up, and the two days are spent usually in separate parts of the house. Colby goes to work with a thrown 'later, man' over his shoulder as he heads out the door, coming home with take out to find Evan seated somewhere with a sketch pad. He's always known Evan could draw, but over the years they've known each other - been together even, he hasn't seen Evan draw or paint even once.

He usually sits down on the couch to watch, food on the table and Evan joins whenever he feels like it. It's stupid and silly that they haven't really talked since that first night on the couch, except Colby isn't sure how to start, how to make them normal again.

On the third day, Colby's mission goes wrong and he comes home late, arm bandaged after a bullet graze. He expects everything to be dark, for Evan to already have gone to bed, except suddenly Evan is pushing him against the door, green eyes glinting from the light outside. "I'm sorry," he whispers and there's blue paint on the side of his nose. "I should've said something; lied instead of saying you couldn't contact me."

"Evan," and he hates situations like this. It isn't what he's made for, what he's good at. "I know," he whispers and it's enough for Evan to close the space between them, lips pressing against Colby's desperately and Colby's glad they're both not the best with words. Evan is leaning his entire weight on him, hands curling at his hips, while Colby's own are on his neck, framing his face. "We're idiots," Colby says once he can, and there's hot breath against his face as Evan laughs and mutters _yeah, we are_ before getting pulled back in.

Evan's mouth is warm and his lips are moving deliberately, deliciously, and he shivers as Colby buries one of his hands in his hair. It's kind of weird how they can do this, _up against the door, for Christ's sake_, after all the confusion and hurt and guilt that they should _really_ talk about, except he can't find the will to do anything but reach down with one hand to undo Evan's jeans and they're both pretty lost after that.

*

 

Colonel Sheppard shows up outside his door, accompanied by a stocky man who seems to be talking about bees. Sheppard is wearing a look of amusement and suffering, and Colby feels for the guy after hours spent with Charlie and Larry, who can talk for hours about everything. When the Colonel's eyes turn back to the door, his face slips into a casual blankness that seems to skip surprise altogether. The man with him isn't as subtle.

"-- of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal -- wait, sorry, I think we got the wrong house." The man says, full of suffering - and Colby suddenly places him amongst the people Evan's talked about, and he's surprised he didn't make the connection sooner. Mouth running, impression of dislike, around Colonel Sheppard - it seemed to fit. "I told you I should be the one driving. For all _you_ know, this isn't even LA."

"It is, we drove past the Hollywood sign, remember?"

"Nah, I don't think you have the wrong house." Colby says, rolling his shoulders back without moving from where he's propped up against the doorframe with his hands in his pocket. "Rodney McKay and Colonel Sheppard, right? I thought Evan had two weeks left of his leave."

"He does," Sheppard says, who has tensed up a bit. McKay frowns at him, then at Colby and somehow manages to frown at the both of them at the same time from where he's still standing beside Sheppard. "I don't think we've met."

Colby considers asking what made Sheppard reach that conclusion, except this is Evan's boss. "Colby Granger. I own half the house, Evan's door is down there." Colby says and points to the right to another door, which is something they'd both decided to have. Cover, just in case of situations like this, but they hadn't seriously expected it. "Evan, company!" He shouts into the house, and steps into the house to let them in. The door barely closes behind Sheppard before Evan is in the room and watches as Evan goes through a transformation that is scarier than some of the dudes he chases for a living. Where Colby is used to Evan being completely relaxed and dragging his feet with an expression that indicates it's his small rebellion against some unknown force, the moment he sees Sheppard, Evan is suddenly painfully military. "Sir. McKay."

"Major," Sheppard and McKay chorus, and Colby looks down and smiles to himself. "We need your - assistance on something," McKay continues with extreme reluctance, and shoots Colby a look to let him know he isn't wanted. He shares a look with Evan, briefly conveying he'll just be headed away to a zone that isn't suddenly classified, before he grabs his keys off a hook on the wall, along with his coat, and disappears out the door. Don will kill him if he doesn't turn in some paperwork soon anyway.

It strikes him as he slides into his car, that they really need to find a better way to communicate that isn't looks and slammed doors. He drives to work on auto-pilot, wondering about McKay and Sheppard and Evan's role with them. The more pieces he's handed about Evan's job - his situation, the less he understands.

David looks up with surprise when he enters the office, because Colby had already left once. "Did you forget something?" David asks, eyes flickering back to his computer screen and the report he's writing up.

"Nah, I figured I'd get an hour's paperwork done so that I don't become our new case of murder." Colby replies, starting the computer and checking his desk for any memos.

"I thought that friend of yours was visiting," David says, and there's times when Colby wishes he was a goldfish incapable of remembering things he randomly says. "Ivan, right?"

"Evan," Colby mutters, and inspects the cup of pencils. Maybe he should get some new ones. "And I do, but some last-minute work thing popped up."

"So you came here." David states with a laugh. "How do you survive on vacation?"

"I can relax, I just usually like to do it in my own home," Colby says, and turns to write the report. "Apparently I am temporarily unwelcome in my own house."

"That's harsh," David says with barely concealed laughter, and lets the whole thing drop. The phone call comes after what has to be only an hour. It pierces the general quiet of the office, typing from various computers and the occasional head popping by for one reason or another, and Colby is just about done with writing his last report in a way that doesn't present him as generally useless on the last case as he had sat in Charlie's office and had math talked at him. David looks up in surprise, and it takes Colby a minute to realize the phone is his. "Colby."

"Uh, hi, this is Rodney McKay. Just come to Cedars-Sinai, alright? Important." McKay sounds stressed and slightly hysterical, and behind him there's the sound of hospital life, and there's a distressing clench in his heart.

"Wait, is Evan alright?" He asks, already on his feet, tapping the final keys on the computer to shut it down.

"What? Oh you can't be serious, would I say 'important' if he was fine? Do you think I call just because I have some sort of weird desire to mess with your head? Actually, I could be persuaded to on a slow day - just get here already so that he can stop staring at me like it's _my_ fault and start staring at you."

There's the unmistakable sound of McKay hanging up, and Colby wonders if Don will arrest him for shooting the man. "What's wrong?" David asks, and repeats it as Colby tries to remember where exactly he put the keys.

"Evan is in the hospital," Colby answers, locating his keys and heading out of the office. "Tell Don I'll have to turn it in tomorrow."

"Yeah, man, sure."

Colby gets there in what has to be record time, wondering if McKay was being vague about Evan just to annoy him or another reason entirely. Walking into the reception of Cedars-Sinai, and yeah, he can definitely cut some corners here. "I'm looking for Evan Lorne," Colby says, flashing his FBI badge to the woman currently giving him a disapproving stare.

With the room number, he skips the elevator and heads for the stairs, taking them two at a time to get rid of the energy he can feel bubbling under his skin. McKay looks up as he enters the room, suddenly on his feet from where he'd been sitting next to Sheppard. Colby glances at Evan, who seems to be asleep same as Sheppard. "What happened?"

"How fast did you drive?" McKay demands skeptically, checking his watch. "I called like 10 minutes ago."

"LA is a 20 minute city, McKay." Colby shoots back, glance going back and forth between McKay and Evan, who has white bandages wrapped around his head. "Tell me what happened."

"It's - it's classified, and you don't have the necessary security clearance." McKay scowls with what Colby thinks might actually be pity. "And there is no such thing as a 20 minute city, unless you're in a village in Norway or - or Iceland!"

"McKay!"

"Fine, okay, all I can say without anyone threatening you and losing my job is that he got hit over the head with a microwave. Well, actually, he was banged over the head with it twice. Which doesn't make sense, since once is obviously enough."

"Why was he hit over the head, McKay?"

"Does it matter when I can't tell you?" McKay asks, looking perplexed. "Or did you not understand when I told you that you _don't have the necessary security clearance_?"

"Rodney, leave him alone." Colby looks toward the beds, where Sheppard is struggling to sit upright. He looks like crap, much paler than the Colonel that had turned up at his door earlier and the IV drips don't really help the image. "We'd been requested to...meet with someone and we posted the Major as a guard. Someone surprised him, and he shouted a warning. We both came running, and the guy shot me in the leg before McKay took him out from behind." McKay looks smug, except Colby can see the pale worry on his face as he looks at Sheppard.

"Oh yes, thank you, by the way, for shoving me into that door." McKay snaps, moving to Sheppard's side with alarming speed, and there's a pretty fond smile on his face. "Idiot."

Colby shakes his head, leaving them and going over to Evan who doesn't move. He sits down on the surprisingly comfortable chair, angling it closer to Evan and crossing his arms to wait for Evan.

He's fallen asleep at some point, because suddenly Evan's fingers are rubbing gently at the base of his skull and he rolls his head toward Evan. "You're awake."

"You're the one sleeping," Evan points out, grin still sleepy and all dimples. Colby wonders if he's still dazed from the blow or if Evan doesn't keep up quite the same defenses in a hospital. He grips Colby's wrist, as if to illustrate Colby's point. "Did you kill McKay?"

"No. Any chance of you being more helpful than they were about what happened?"

"I think I got hit on the head, I have really bad headache. You should go home and sleep though; I'll be home when you're off work." Evan looks apologetic as though he's been caught doing something bad, and Colby thinks of the scars that Evan has been collecting while he was away, and the walls that they sometime hit during a case, and the same frustration settles over him.

"I'll stick around." He says, settling back once again into the chair, and Evan grins wide and happy, and doesn't let go of his wrist. Colby can't say he minds it much, even though Evan's boss is in the next bed.

Evan is quiet for a moment, still grinning happily at him, until he frowns and glances at his watch. "You should go home and sleep, I'll be home when you're off work, unless you killed McKay. There'd be trouble for that."

He blinks at him, mind working before he sighs. "Great," he sighs when it comes to him, thumb stroking briefly over Evan's knuckles. "But I'll stay. Just, I'll get you some water, alright?" Evan lets go of his wrist, and Colby goes to tell someone about the suspected anterograde amnesia.

*

 

Work is unbearably slow. David and him get sent out with a team to investigate an anonymous tip on a drug operation that turns out to be fake, instead they rush into a perfectly innocent family dinner, and after they've apologized and gotten someone to fix the door and he returns back to the desk. Colby considers leaving early, knows that Evan is expecting him even if he can't remember Colby telling him he'd drop by.

Except Megan is watching him over her papers, making small noises at the back of her throat for every thing he does after raising an eyebrow at his clothes which he hasn't had time to change. "Megan, stop profiling me."

"I wasn't -- Colby." Megan sighs, closing the case folder in front of her. "Maybe you should just go, you're not focused. He obviously means --"

"Megan," Colby warns, because he doesn't need her knowing and telling everyone. She frowns at him, still slightly sympathetic, yet Colby knows she's considering him her new puzzle. "Leave it.

He grabs his jacket and gets to his feet, shutting down the computer and dropping his reports onto Don's desk. He's almost out of the building when he bumps into Don, "Hey Colby, heading out already?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to check on Evan."

"Oh yeah, yeah, I heard about that." Don says, thumb touching the corner of his lip. "I'm sorry, man, that's gotta suck for him. What happened?"

Colby tries to think of a way to say _he got bashed on the head with a microwave twice_ in a way that won't need an explanation. He shrugs instead. "I dunno, he's fuzzy on the details. Can't remember much for more than a few minutes, let alone how it happened."

"Ah, that's too bad. Hey, listen, dad's getting worried I'm working you too hard. Once Evan gets out of the hospital, the two of you should drop by for dinner to get him off my back."

"Yeah, sure, Don," Colby says, and eyes the door. "Listen, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, yeah. Tell Evan I hope he feels better, and I'm sorry about that drug bust earlier. Not the best week for you, huh?"

"It happens, man." Colby agrees, waits until Don's taken two steps away before he starts walking again, certain Don won't continue with the conversation now. He drives more slowly to the hospital now, not in the same rush as yesterday, stopping by his house to change clothes and get some for Evan as well. McKay is there when he enters, seated by Sheppard and when he looks up his face is tight and tired. Colby has an urge to say that at least Sheppard isn't suffering from amnesia, isn't having trouble remembering what he said seconds after he says it, except he has the feeling McKay hasn't left and he isn't entirely sure he'll come away from it alive. He nods in greeting, setting Evan's bag onto the floor by his bed and taking his seat.

"He got kidnapped once," McKay says after a few minutes, breaking the silence of the room. "We thought he was dead."

"I thought I didn't have clearance." Colby answers, staring at McKay over the beds. McKay frowns and waves a hand.

"I don't - it doesn't matter, alright? I mean, I understand this...whatever...between you, and I, just, I hate secrets. And the Major - he has a lot, and that can't - can't be easy."

"McKay, are you saying sorry?" Colby asks incredulously, and takes McKay's answering glare as a yes. "Alright, what happened?"

"What, wasn't that enough _highly_ classified information? I could very well be risking my job!"

"For two sentences? How high is this security clearance?" Colby asks, looking down as Evan's hand moves to close over his own.

"You'd be surprised, and oh, mention this to either of them, and I have some very scary friends who can make you regret it."

"Really?"

"Not really, no." McKay says with a sigh and gives Sheppard a look that Colby can't really interpret. "But I could report it, and then they'd take care of it. You won't tell them, right?"

"No, McKay, I won't. Just -- is that where that scar on his chest came from?" Colby asks without really thinking, and it isn't until he sees the look on McKay's face that he really thinks about what he just said. Except McKay had already said he more or less knew, hadn't he?

"No," McKay sighs, sympathetically. "That was...that was much worse, actually."

"Worse than getting kidnapped and assumed dead?" Colby is surprised, even though he's seen the scars and he already knew whatever work he was doing was as risk filled as his own, maybe even more.

"Uh, yeah, actually. It's a pretty...pretty odd job we have." McKay fumbles, and stares at his hands.

Colby is about to agree, when Evan stirs and his attention is diverted. "Hey," Evan croaks, grinning at him. "Colby, what are you doing on A--" Evan's face twitches, as if battling with himself before he continues. "--here?"

"I said I'd stop by, remember?" Colby answers, sick of the hospital after only one day, except judging by Evan's frown, he doesn't remember. "How are you feeling?"

"Headache," Evan answers, arm going up to rub at the back of his head, and Colby laughs a little.

"No surprise there," Colby says as Evan's eyes narrow in on the bag Colby brought with him. "Oh yeah, I brought you something to pass the time." He brings out the sketch pad and colors he found in the living room. He looks up briefly to meet McKay's curious eyes, settling back and watching as Evan starts the beginning of a new sketch.

By the time Evan is ready to leave two days later, the sketch is done and while Evan changes in the bathroom, Colby glances at the pad while packing up his things. He isn't sure what he expects Evan to sketch, but seeing himself - scruffy and smiling in black and white, is the last thing he did expect. He stares at it, until he's suddenly aware of Evan standing beside him, back in his street clothes. "I found it easier to draw what I could see," Evan says, rubbing at the back of his neck and grinning shyly. "It's not - not done."

Colby's heard a few speeches from Evan about not seeing something until it's done, and mutters a sorry as he closes the pad and places it into the bag. "Hey, listen, Don's invited us over for dinner tonight," he says, and he'd almost considered not telling Evan about Don's invitation after he found out that apparently the Air Force isn't letting Evan get an extra week off, even though they got him hospitalized for part of it. It's entirely selfish, but he knows that Don won't leave it alone if he tells him that Evan said no, and if Don confronts Evan and with Colby's luck this week, they'd spend too long not talking because of it. It makes Colby feel like someone took the liberty of hitting him over the head with a microwave as well, and so it's easier all around to just tell Evan.

"Hey, that'd be great," Evan grins, "You met my boss and his scientist, so I might as well meet your boss and his mathematician."

"I am _not_ Sheppard's in any sense of the form." McKay snaps, not bothering to pretend he wasn't listening in a little. "I am my own person, and what do you mean, mathematician? I thought you said you worked for the FBI."

"I do," Colby says, hiding a grin while Evan ducks his head down to no doubt check that his shoelace is tied _properly_. "My boss' brother is Charlie Eppes, he consults us on some cases."

"What do you mean, consults? He uses math to fight crime?"

"More like solve it. The fighting is left to us agents."

"Oh, gee, doesn't _that_ sound familiar." McKay says, giving both Sheppard and Evan an extremely pointed glare. "It is the story of my life, really. And using math to solve crime, that's just...just..."

"Cool," Sheppard finishes for him, and grins. "I read the Eppes convergence. The flaw was a little obvious, but easy enough to fix." McKay narrows his eyes while Colby and Evan stare in surprise. "What?"

"It's so easy to forget you actually know math." McKay says conversationally, "Your hair is extremely deceiving."

"Hey! At least I'm not going _bald_," Sheppard shoots back almost at once, almost as a reflex and then looks as though he regrets it - McKay draws in a breath, but before he can utter a word, Evan has Colby by the upper arm and is trying to shove him out of the room.

"I'll see you in two weeks, sir. McKay." Evan says, and Colby grins at them as he's being shoved out the door in a way that's meant to mean _I really doubt we're ever going to see each other again, but if we do, it'd be nice if it wasn't in a hospital_. Evan continues the hurried escape, and McKay's raised argument follows them to the elevator.

"Work must be fun," Colby comments, once the doors have closed and they're left alone inside the elevator. Evan grimaces, reliving meal times in the cafeteria, and mutters, "Don't even joke about it."

*

 

It's a bit late when they finally make their way to the Eppes house, a mixture of losing track of time and forgetting various things on their way out, until they're finally standing outside the door as Alan opens the door. "Ah, Colby! Don mentioned you were dropping by tonight. And you must be Evan," Alan says, offering his hand. Sometimes Colby does wonder about Alan, how much he actually knows but pretends not to, or if he does that 'I know what your secret about this really is' look without meaning to.

"Yes, sir." Evan answers in his best military voice. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Eppes?"

"Please, call me Alan. Well, come in! Dinner will be done soon and I imagine Don and Charlie are out in the garage." Alan says, turning and welcoming them inside. Once his back is turn, Evan shoots Colby a look - probably getting the same feeling from Alan as Colby is, but follows. Well, if anyone is to know about them, Colby figures it might as well be Alan.

"Sure you don't need help?"

"Nah, you boys go ahead." Alan shoos them out with a flick of the kitchen towel, "Tell them to finish up their little project."

"Sure, Alan," Colby says, leading the way to the garage.

"Watch out!" Charlie shouts making both Colby and Evan duck out of instinct as the basketball goes sailing over his head, but Evan grabs it from the air. "Don, I told you to angle away from the door."

"Hey Charlie, Don. This is Evan." Colby says, stepping through the room now that it's safe, and Evan passes the ball back to Don.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you, man," Don says, ball under one arm as he shakes Evan's hand. "I heard about what happen, that has to suck. Still can't remember how it happened?" Don asks, as Evan shakes Charlie's hand as well. At Don's words, he shoots a quizzical look at Colby before his expression turns into one of understanding.

"No, still a blur." Evan says cheerfully and studies one of the blackboards for a moment, before he eyes the ball again. "There isn't any chance we can play some basketball, is there?" He asks, and Don laughs approvingly.

"Yeah, that would be great for my research, actually." Charlie agrees, putting the piece of chalk down and dusting his hands. "I'm working on a theory about --"

"Charlie," Don sighs, passing the ball behind his back and there's the sound of scrabbling as Charlie goes for the ball in surprise. "Save it for dinner."

They team up into two, Don and Evan against Charlie and Colby, and Don looks smug enough that he lets them start. Charlie whispers that he has a mathematic solution on how to win the game, half of which Colby probably won't even understand, and so Colby motions for him to put the ball in play - regardless of his genius mathematical scheme, while Evan says something to Don about how he hasn't exactly played basketball with a real ball in a while.

"You'll do fine, man. It's not like we're up against the NBA," Don adds, grinning teasingly at his brother. "Come on, Charlie, let's play." Colby gets the ball and turns out and around Don, passing the ball back to Charlie who shoots with a calculated expression on his face. Evan gets a hoop in two minutes later, and they continue playing until Alan appears at the door to call them in. They're all breathing heavily, grinning from ear to ear except Charlie looks slightly petulant that his mathematical plan for a win didn't work.

"God, this smells good." Evan says once they're sitting down and Colby has to agree, it looks delicious.

"Yeah, dad, it looks great. You sure you don't need any help in there?" Charlie calls into the kitchen, and there's a fond sigh from the kitchen.

"Sure, Charlie. You can wash up." Alan appears in the doorway once again, holding the dish in his hand. "Well, I hope that running around worked up an appetite, I have another pan in the oven."

"This is the food I really miss when I'm gone." Evan says, and Colby thinks he might have intended to say it so that only Colby can hear it.

"You didn't have food like this before you left," Colby remarks and the corner of his lips turn up.

"Surely you miss more than that," Alan says, sitting down and gesturing for Evan and Colby to help themselves to the chicken. "What is it exactly you do?"

Evan snorts with laughter, earning a look from the Eppes, and briefly closes his fingers around Colby's wrist. "I'm stationed with the Air Force," he says and does exactly what he does to Colby when they go near this subject, he says a lot without really saying everything at all. Colby glances at them while he eats, and by the looks of thing, Don is the only one who really realizes how little Evan is saying about his work.

The conversation goes from Evan's work to the final successful bust concerning the drug ring they'd been tracking down. Charlie comes up with an algorithm on how to track down the bigger ones connected to it, and then they're suddenly talking about movies after Don decides that it could wait until morning.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Colby that Alan keeps grinning at them, and Evan mutters briefly something under his breath that Colby can't quite hear. But Colby's glad for the chance to sit like this with Evan and friends, especially after four days in a hospital. He always enjoys dinner at the Eppes' household, and Evan looks like it's what he needed after the hospital.

They end up sleeping in a guest bedroom, neither of them stupid enough to drive after drinking, though for Evan it's just that his driving license isn't exactly up to date - when he first left for Atlantis, he hadn't seen a reason to. They briefly consider sharing the bed, but in the end, Colby takes one of the pillows and camps out on the couch downstairs after cupping Evan's face firmly in his hands and kissing him once.

There are a lot of things he can say about the couch once he wakes up, and none of them are exactly nice, but he has to admit it's a hell of a lot more comfortable than the chair in the hospital. He comes to the breakfast table at the same time as Don, Alan and Evan already seated. Colby glances at Evan, checking that everything is alright, and aside from the fact that Evan seems to be drumming his fingers of his left hand against the table while his right stays firmly clamped around a cup of coffee, everything seems to be fine.

"I never expected federal agents to be able to sleep for that long," Evan says, grinning as he shoves a mug of coffee to both of them.

"Yeah, well, when we get the chance to sleep, we usually take it." Don says, taking a seat and picking the coffee mug up. "Thanks, man."

"The Titanic crashing into the garage wouldn't have woken either of you," Alan remarks, coming back from the kitchen with some more bread.

"What do you mean?"

"There was a car crash right outside. You really didn't hear?" Alan asks, and Colby and Don share a look.

"Of course we heard, don't be stupid." Don says and is almost convincing if it wasn't for the grin on his face. "Where's Charlie?"

"Oh, he had a meeting."

"But," Evan adds brightly, popping toast into his mouth. "He said to tell you there's a rematch in all of our futures."

"You boys maybe. I think you will be just fine without me." Alan remarks and Evan glances up at Colby, smile flashing across his face.

Colby smiles back.

They'll be fine.

*

 

  
  
_Placed in Major Evan Lorne's quarters in Atlantis, upon his return September 2007_   



End file.
